001This is NHTV2 North Haven Government Television, a service of North Haven Community Television. The following program is brought to you through the support of the town of North Haven. I'd >> like to welcome everybody to the U regular meeting of the board of education. February 12th, 2026. May I have a motion to approve the February? >> The February 12th uh board of education regular meeting minutes. >> Motion. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Thank you. >> So, it's Joe, Marty, and G. >> Joe, Marty, G, can you hear us? I mean, can you uh answer it all? >> I can't. Marty's saying something because you can see it. >> Yeah. >> Um maybe if you could put things in the chat box, then at least we would know if you wanted to say
002something. >> Okay. >> And if you approve, you give a thumbs up. >> Yeah, that'll be fine. We're going to move on to the student representative reports. >> Bara, how are you? >> Good. How about you? >> Very well. What do you got for us today? So we have just passed the midpoint of a third marking period and teachers had a great professional development event in February where they worked together to explore a number of researchbased uh student engagement strategies that they are now applying in classrooms. >> Awesome. >> Are all schools >> Oh, [laughter] I know. I know you're excited. >> Let me introduce him. I have a question for for college apps. You guys starting to get your college stuff together and getting it out there or what are we doing? Uh, I've
003submitted all my college applications now. I'm just waiting for, you know, uh, the acceptances hopefully. >> Okay. Well, of course, I'm sure you're going to get quite a few, but that's all set and ready to go. >> Okay. Eva Baron. >> Hello. How are you? >> How are you doing? >> Good. How are you? >> Excellent. What you got for us today? Our all school musical, The Little Mermaid, was a big hit with full audiences and amazing performances. This year's set may have been the biggest and the best ever. Our sports teams had a great winter with several teams advancing into the SEC tournament and the state tournament. >> Okay. I heard that play was a fantastic success. I know my granddaughters went and they had a great time. I guess on Sunday where we
004was taking pictures with uh all the ma major characters and >> a character meeting. Yeah. Yeah. They had a great They had a great time. >> Everything else is going well for you, junior year. >> Thank you so much. >> Excellent. Glad to hear it. >> You guys are free to leave at any time. Thank you for your reports. I appreciate it. >> At this point, we're going to do uh public comment on non-aggenda item. If you have a comment you'd like to make about anything that is not on the agenda, >> you can stand and sign in and have your have your word. Where do you want me to stand? >> You don't have to stand. You can sit. I don't I'm sitting. I just want to make sure everybody at home can also
005hear me. >> You're fine. >> Optimize my voice. I thought >> you'll be fine. >> I feel like he's awkward. I'm going to stand behind him. >> Anyone to address the whole room. >> Okay. >> Um I think most of you know me um already, but for those of you watching, um my name is Christa Kaplan. I'm a teacher at the middle school. I'm speaking tonight as a resident um and a parent. Um and I'm here representing um as president of the North Haven Education Association representing the over 300 teachers across our district. I wanted to begin tonight by thanking the board for their thoughtful discussions at last week's workshop. It is clear that you are committed to protecting our teachers, staff, and students while navigating a very challenging budget situation. Go ahead. >> Um
006and I genuinely uh appreciate your dedication that you showed last week. >> Thank you. >> Um however, we know that the significant reductions may be coming um in the near future. The proposals shared last week, including overcertified >> 30 certified and non-certified positions, athletics, and its director, if implemented, will have real and lasting impacts not only on our students access to programs, academic opportunities, and extracurricular activities, but also on the livelihoods of educators and staff who serve them. These cuts affect our classrooms, student supports, and even the broader sense of community that our teachers and our programs help to foster. I respectfully urge the board to consider all available cost-saving measures before finalizing decisions in the coming future, including reviewing potential insurance savings, fully encouraging participation in the early retirement incentive, and working directly with
007school leaders and stakeholders in those positions to fully understand the implications of the cuts proposed. Our educators, staff, and students are deeply committed to the success of our schools, and we know that difficult decisions are required. My hope is that through thoughtful deliberation and collaboration, the board can make fiscally responsible decisions that protect students educational experiences, maintain programs, and safeguard the livelihoods of the professionals that help to make our schools thrive. Lastly, I would like to end with a message directly to parents and [clears throat] town residents here tonight or those watching through the live stream. Now is the time for action. The decisions made in the coming week will impact not only our classrooms and programs, but the fabric of our community. Your voices matter. Attending upcoming board of finance meetings, reaching out to
008them via email, and staying informed are critical ways you can support our students and our schools. We have to work together to protect programs, opportunities, and teachers that make North Haven Schools a place of excellence and a community that we've created for every child. Thank you everyone for your ongoing commitment to our students, our schools, and our community. >> Thank you very much. [applause] we're we're well aware of the importance of the uh teaching community in our school and that we [clears throat] wouldn't have the success that we have uh right now without them. So, we are doing everything that we can and will be doing everything that we can to ensure uh that all cuts are where they need to be [clears throat] and not just bulk cuts to make a number. So, I
009appreciate that. Anybody else like to speak to that? Okay, appreciate it. Moving up to the consent agenda. [clears throat] The resignation of April Wizneski, job coach, NHTP, retirement of Philip Diana, director of building and grounds. Retirement of Linda Kovac, supervisor of technology support services. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion. Second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? I'd like to thank um all those for their time and effort in the school system. We appreciate it. All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> So move. Um Amanda, would you like to provide an update on the board um budget conversations? >> Okay. Um, so our friends over at the town challenged all departments within North Haven to sharpen their pencils from our original 11.14% ask. Um, I want to just acknowledge like I'm
010a taxpayer here too. All of us are taxpayers and we know what this sounds like. We understand that this feels like a really large increase and without context, it's really easy to think that an increase that large is unreasonable. But when you dig in and understand the context behind it, you'll see a different story. The bulk of the request is like $4.5 million uh of of an increase in our medical and dental insurance line item, which for context is larger than the entirety of the increase last year uh that the board of ed requested. So after careful review, the board of education determined that a significant budget reduction would likely result in material reductions in staffing, programming, and student services that would directly impact instructional quality and district operations. what Miss Kaplan was just kind
011of talking about. Um, you know, it it meant that there was the possibility of the gifted and talented program not being available, potential for increased class sizes, potential for middle school world language program to be eliminated, potential for the middle school theater program, um, and potential for the coordinator program to be eliminated as well. these in addition to some additional staff. These reductions would substantially alter our educational program. And for folks who've been watching me for a while, you know that I talk about per people pupil expenditure a lot. We are way under the district reference group D, which is like districts that look socioeconomically like North Haven. Um those are who we're comparing ourselves to. We don't want to compare to Greenwich because as my son says, that's not comparing apples to apples. That's
012comparing apples to diamond encrusted durians, right? So, we want to compare it to other districts that look similar to us. Um, so we spend far less than our peers in district reference group D. And we have a blue ribbon school and we have many schools that receive um like excellent accolades from the state and nationally. But more importantly, we have kids who are thriving right now and that is because of our teachers. So, thank you to our teachers and our staff. Um it's also really important to note that the majority of the rest of this proposed increase is driven by contractual obligations like you know salary increases and um these are structural cost drivers. They're not discretionary cost drivers. So we're not like getting new iPads for everybody. We are trying to maintain the programs
013that we have currently. Uh we remain continued to uh committed to continued dialogue with our partners over in the town and on the board of finance. uh we went back with a 9.95% budget increase after sharpening our pencils significantly. And so I always sort of think about this in terms of my own monthly budget. As I said before, like I am a taxpayer here too. So I think about this in terms of scenarios. Our original scenario would have equated to about a $68 increase [clears throat and cough] to my monthly tax bill. I think that we should be letting the people of North Haven know what their increase is going to be, their tax increase is going to be, and what is included and not included in that tax increase. Um, so just a little
014bit of context, professionally, I help executives make datadriven decisions. I think we should be treating every single uh voter in North Haven as an executive, and we should be helping the executives of North Haven make good and datadriven decisions. So, um, as we move forward throughout this process, I'm going to encourage folks to come up with scenarios that we can present to our our town's taxpayers and say, as an example, we can maintain all of our staff for X increase, and that's going to cost you Y dollar monthly. Um, that's just kind of what we're working on now. And if anybody does have any questions um, for me, you're welcome to reach out to me or to email the board of education. And I want to just second what Miss Kaplan said earlier that it's
015it's a great time to make your voice heard. This is a good time to uh provide feedback to your elected officials and let us know what is important to you um and and what we should be looking at and considering as we move forward. >> Yeah. I just like to note too, you mentioned the 4 million from the insurance. That is not a number that we come up with. No, >> that's a number that's given to us as a driver. >> So we don't say, "Oh, you know, it'd be great to have 4 million of insurance. So, let's put it in the budget. That's a number that's given to us and we added in along with other contractual obligations um with a couple of wants. Not too many, but a couple of wants in there
016also. Does anybody have any questions about that? Okay. Thank you. We're going to move on to standing committees. All right. So, aces won't be heard from today because we're having some technical difficulties with Marty. Marty, you can't communicate back this way, can you? That's enough. Uh, curriculum instruction and planning. That's Joe, right? >> Oh, Tom is going to do it. >> Oh, Tom's going to do it. >> Yes, >> Tom. Steph first timer. >> All right, man. Let's roll. >> Um, nothing too uh long to discuss. Um, but we've uh been um having some discourse around international field trips um into the high school. Um really just the tip of the iceberg at this point. Um there's a possible proposal for a trip in uh the spring of 2027 go to Greece. So we've kind
017of just been examining, you know, what would that look like in terms of liability and insurance um chaperones cost um fundraising for those who want to go but can't come up with a fund. So not much more to share right now. Um there will be more as we dive deeper into it um and learn more about the process and what's going to be available. >> Excellent. Excellent. Does anybody have any questions for that? >> Thanks. Thank you. >> Uh finance and operations. >> I think I covered it in the budget update. Thank you. >> I do think you did. Okay. >> Uh education foundation. >> Unfortunately, I didn't make the meeting anyways. >> Okay. [snorts] Policy. Um we're on to the second read of policy 1400, non-discrimination community board operations. Policy number 4118.1134218- I'm sorry.113
018non-discrimination policy and regulations personnel policy 4152/4252 family and medical leave policy 5145.4 for non-discrimination students. Uh next we'll move on to the ad hoc calendar committee. >> I sure can. >> Just to elaborate on the updates to the policies for the three nondiscrimination um the reason the changes they uh the model policies added uh sexual assault victims and human trafficking victims as a protected class. So that's reflected in all three of those. And in the family medical leave update, it makes uh revisions to two state laws uh CT FMLA and CT leave expending cover extending coverage to employees of public school operators who positions do not require a license under state statute. So that's why we are updating those those policies. >> Thank you. >> Excellent. No problem. >> Gold, do you have uh calendar
019committee? >> Yeah, so the calendar committee met March 9th. Uh we reviewed the proposal uh from the superintendent. Um we made a few suggestions regarding uh parent teacher conferences which he looked into and was able to make uh changes. It was previously scheduled back to back and there was a suggestion uh from Michelle to spread it out you know rather than have it back to back so that it's better and more convenient for for parents. >> That's when it was three it was three days in a row. >> Yeah. Yeah. It was three days in a row. Yeah. So he split it between the week before and then the uh the week of. So that was addressed. We also uh adopted Idel Fitter as a school holiday and it's scheduled for March 9th, 2027. And
020so uh we're presenting the draft for board review and hopeful approval. The last day for classes for 2027 will be June 15th barring any weather cancellations or issues that come up. Uh, one question I had about the holiday was is that that day that you picked this year, which is I'm going March 9th. Is that consistent through every year or does that every year get looked at based on because I know it's a lunar holiday >> changes every year. >> So it does change. >> Yeah. So Patrick had like the next >> Yeah. couple of years. I know we talked about maybe one day. All right. So, but just every year we're going to have to look at it, figure the day and do the first day >> and move on from there. >> Exactly.
021>> Okay. So, the second day is not in consideration. >> No, just that one. >> Just the first day. >> Yes. The day that was the dates that were provided to us. >> All right. >> Can I ask a question about that? >> Of course. >> Um, so thank you, Goldie. This is great. And Michelle, anybody else? >> It's all Patrick. It was great. >> Um, the March 9th edition, is that a net ad or are we taking something else out to make room for that? >> No, we didn't take any other days out. >> And this year there um the way I'm sorry and I wasn't there. I'm interjecting, but um this year sometimes some years we have two Jewish holidays. The way the calendar falls, there was only one. So it >> because
022one fell on a Saturday, >> so that kind of did absorb it a little bit. >> And then Okay, this looks great to me. Thank you. So, what about the days that there are two Jewish holidays? Do we still meet our 180? >> Yeah. Well, this has 181. This has 181 student days. >> So, right now it's based on 181. So, we have a day of >> play basically. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> In the following year, it would be different depending on the dates in the >> right. It sounds like worst case would be 180, >> right? >> Okay. >> So, we don't have to make any special arrangements >> on a day that it's two. >> That's right. >> Okay. Sure. There's a I have a question to the board. >> Um in
023terms of the the new holiday, has there been any communication um with the community at large in terms of consideration for this new new holiday? >> They've been here every month for the last six months. >> Okay. So listening. Okay. Gotcha. >> Does anybody else have any questions about that? Okay. So this was the discussion portion of this holiday. So, next month we'll be voting on it. So, everybody's good. >> So, can I ask a question as far as the voting on the calendar? I know that normally we draft it and see it here and we're going to vote in April. >> Um, we've talked in the past too about potentially trying to do this all sooner like in the future. So, I I guess I was under the impression that we were voting on
024this today only because I've heard from people that are trying to plan like vacations for first day of school next year and like when they have to be back. >> They have to wait a month, >> right? In the future, is it something we can consider possibly bumping because most districts have already set their calendar like months ago? >> Why don't I don't It's something we can discuss. We can discuss moving it. I don't know that it will be or not be, but we can discuss it. Yeah. So, we figured maybe like if you know calendar committee goes like January and we just >> I would I would think it really needs to be first discussed among the members of the calendar committee right >> before it's even brought here >> right >> because I
025you know I say oh it doesn't affect me but I'm not on that committee. >> I [clears throat] mean I'm >> so I know I know you are and so is go and so I mean there was have to be brought those two have to be brought into discussion between the three of you. >> Yeah. [clears throat] come up with your resolution and then just bring it forward. If you want to change it, if you don't want to change it, then we don't need any resolution made at all. >> But that's that's you three first and then we'll then we'll take it from there. I think that's the fairest way to go. I I I do have I don't know if I say concern or that you know yes those who watch YouTube and have
026children are going to have tuned in and are informed but you know this is for the school calendar but I question what other area that trickles into the community. >> Um >> you're losing me. I know. So I I just feel that you know yes it's we're we're changing the calendar for the school. However, aside from people who have a vested interest in the school, which means they have children, I don't know if the community is aware that we're considering implementation of this holiday. And >> okay, >> I I see it as a school thing, but also community. And I just feel that there should be some type of communication with the community at large um to just bring to light that this is something that's being considered. Well, it's frankly a school thing. Uh,
027it is a community thing, but the school the school is what votes on it, >> not the town. Otherwise, I have to come to referendum. It's not a referendum on it. >> I just I just think there's a lot of um insight that might come from other areas besides the school that >> Well, we have public comment. They've been here for months talking about it and if somebody had a comment, they had every opportunity to come here and say the piece on it. >> That's what I'm saying. But those are the ones who are aware of it through their vested interest of having a child in the school which is not every >> No, there are plenty of people who watch these meetings every month that have nobody in the school system. >> Okay. >>
028So, it's it's out there. I mean, >> okay. >> You can you can choose to not believe it, but it's >> saying that I just don't know if if more people should be aware that there's a major change coming to um >> I I don't know that it's a major change, but it's it's a change. I don't know that >> I I think it's a major change. Oh, okay. I don't know that it affects uh people's livelihoods or the school year or >> I believe >> the calendar of the the school year. We still get 180 days and I think we're good with that. But I I get your concern. Okay. >> But there are there are opportunities for people that's why you know when I started I broke it down into agenda and non-aggenda
029issues. So people who have an issue whether it was we talked about it as an agenda or not could have come here and talk about it. >> [clears throat] >> Can we move on to the superintendence report? >> Thank you. Uh let's talk a little bit about the uh non-renewal of non-tenure teachers. The board of education budget for the 2627 school year proposes a 9.95% increase over this current year. There will be no reductions in staffing if this budget passes passes through the May referendum without any further cuts. However, if the budget does not pass through this first referendum, then a reduction in staffing is a strong possibility, but is solely dependent on the board of finance and the reductions of the board of ed prior to that second render second referendum. In the event
030that the budget does not pass through referendum, district must be prepared to meet Connecticut State Statute 10-151. [cough] >> [clears throat] >> CT statute 10-151 requires that the contract of employment of a teacher who has not attained tenure shall be continued into the next school year unless such teacher receives written notice by May 1st that such contract will not be renewed for the following year. Therefore, to air on the side of caution, I'm proposing that the board of education consider a vote in April to issue all non-tenure teachers with a non-renewal letter in order to stay in compliance with Connecticut State Statute 10-151. If the budget passes in May, a second letter will be issued to all non-tenure teachers, assuring them that their positions are not in jeopardy and we have every intention of them
031returning to the district. Uh this is a conservative measure in the event that the referendum vote does not pass. However, we're very optimistic that the town's people will support the uh board of education budget. Main comments before moving on. >> Yeah. So the initial um calling of that role would be for the main meeting, >> I'm sorry, the April meeting because it needs to be done by May 1st. Yes, sir. So, next month it has to be discussed and voted on. [cough] Just so everybody's aware, discussed and voted on the same month. We're not going to discuss it and then hold it over for the next month because it'd be too late um by statute. >> Right. That's why I open the door this month. >> Okay. And it's the same stuff we had to
032do last year. It was very unpleasant, but um again, statutoily you need to do it. So, >> if I can just say like this one makes me really uncomfortable because I understand that there is a state statute that requires us to do this. It feels like a slap in the face to teachers and I'm not saying that to anybody here. That's to our friends up at the capital right now. Um, I really don't like that we do this because as I said earlier, like our teachers are making the difference for us right now and they're keeping us afloat. I'm really hopeful that we'll see folks uh come out and be loud about support for the budget so that we are not in a position where we have to actually reduce any staff. >> Agreed. And
033I would just like to make a mention that last year when I read it, it was that was one of the most unpleasant things I had to do for the entire year. But as a note, if we were only uh thinking that it maybe affected three teachers, we had to read the list of all the teachers. So when you when you say, "Well, they only would have laid off three. Why did they read the 30 names?" It's because we don't really know where that number is going to be. I can't read three. And if it's four, then we're stuck because we don't know where that final number is going to be when the budget finally gets approved. So everyone that is um non-tenured their name gets read whether they are actually in that target specific
034group or not. So when you hear the long list of names, you know, we're not doing it for effect. We're not doing it to scare people. Again, it's statutorial. They all need to be read. Does anybody else have a question about that? >> You all set more? Sure. I just want to follow up regarding last month's uh board of education meeting and spend just a minute to revisit the uh integrated day program and discuss next steps. So, a few weeks ago, I sent a communication to all families briefly highlighting a meet the teacher event which will take place at all four of our elementary schools in June. Uh this event is intended to help all students and their families ID and contemporary to transition to the next school year by allowing them to meet with
035the next year's grade level team of teachers. We recognize that there are former ID and former contemporary teachers that students and families may not be familiar with and this will allow uh everyone to meet with their teachers and get to see their classrooms. Once we are done with any possibility of another snow day, we'll we will we will uh will release the uh day of this event and some additional details. Uh administrators and teachers are also beginning to look at their 26 27 enrollment numbers uh and are beginning to create class lists as we've done in the past. Classroom teacher assignments will be shared with families in mid August. And just one final note on the budget. Uh over the next few weeks, uh Randy, Christian, and myself will be presenting uh the board of
036education budget to the school's PTAs. Uh we appreciate uh each of the PTAs allowing us to uh to crash their meeting and to talk with families about the board's budget priorities and the importance of casting their vote at the referendum. Thank you. >> Does we have any uh questions for Patrick? Assistant superintendent report. >> This evening, I wanted to share that the district is currently running afterchool math and literacy programs at our four elementary schools. We are in week three of this program and our students seem to be enjoying the additional literacy and numeracy interventions. Many thanks to our coordinators, site directors, and teachers who have taken on this additional responsibility. As part of our commitment to the Connecticut State Department of Education, the district recently pulled our Dibbles assessment data to identify students flagged
037or showing potential for being at risk for dyslexia. Many thanks to Caitlyn Ortiz, our um K8 language arts coordinator, for organizing these files for the state department. If you remember in the fall I shared that um as a district and I personally were not comfortable granting access to the state department to get into that data. So it required us to have to submit form after form and a very laborious task um to give them aggregate data around this. After much time with this data um and looking at it by school, by student, by classroom, we determined that the vast majority of the students flagged um were already receiving supports in the district. Um that could be via 504 plan, IEP, SRBI, a watch list, or supports in the classroom. So, this was really something to
038celebrate because these are our youngest learners and we want to catch them as early as we can. So, this shows that our systems are working, that we really are cross-checking and making sure that we're catching students who need the supports. For the small number of students who showed up that we did not have eyes on already, we've already put supports in place for them and they are receiving um assistance from our literacy coaches in each building. And lastly, for the first time, we generated um winter data reports for families and sent them home via emails prior to elementary conferences because we wanted families to have more in time data because we give these assessments in January, but we don't have conferences and report cards until March. So that gave an opportunity for conversation between our
039elementary parents and teachers and put supports in place if necessary. And obviously these data points and these reports are a point of conversation at this week's parent conferences. That's all I have. >> Okay. >> I have a couple questions for you, Melinda. The math and literacy extra help, is there a charge for that to our >> Oh, there is not. that if you remember, we were um we had had a small bucket of money um for summer school last year in the budget. It wasn't enough to fund a full program. So, we had said given all the budget back and forth last year, we were going to hold tight and that we would utilize the funds to meet student needs um when it was appropriate. So, we waited until we had um this midpoint of
040the year data and then we invited students who we thought could use this targeted instruction and there is no charge. The only um piece that we don't have is transportation after school. So, families are gracious and they pick up their students at 4:30. >> That's great. Thank you for that. And then second question is um for the dibbles like gap analysis with the state data are we going to be repeating that annually or like >> yes so it's it's it's a um it's a universal screen measure that is in place and we need to have that in place um as part of our science of reading and our literacy um expectations from the state department. We're coupling it with our I Ready data and kind of triangulating some of that along with obviously um classroom
041performance and you know teacher anecdotal notes. Um but yes that will be ongoing. We do it actually multiple times over the course of the year, but this winter snapshot is what we communicated so families would have that information. And at this juncture in the year, we have to submit it to the state department because we are looking for any areas of concern for students who may be dyslexic. >> Great. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Anybody else? >> Okay, moving on to student services report. Anthony, >> thank you very much. Tonight, I have two fun things to highlight, which is always a positive. I'd like to start with the North Haven High School Unified Sports Team. Last Wednesday, the team was presented uh excuse me, last Wednesday, the team was presented a national unified champion
042school banner and recognition for 2024 to 2028. This is the second time that North Haven has received this prestigious acknowledgement. To earn this designation, a school community must embody the following. This is accomplished by implementing inclusive sports, inclusive youth leadership opportunities, and whole school engagement. The program is designed to be woven into the fabric of the school, enhancing current efforts, and providing rich opportunities that lead to meaningful change in creating socially inclusive school that supports and engages all learners. So there is a big undertaking that goes with that and I am very proud of the team. So I can't say thank you enough to our unified sports co-leaders Lauren Bevenzio and Karen Gallagher along with the teachers that volunteer their times, the PAR educators, RBTs, Best Buddy students and especially our families for making these
043amazing opportunities happen for our students and the local community. It was wonderful because we had uh three other local schools join us and they had a great basketball tournament. So, it was a great team building opportunity. I feel this award absolutely embodies North Haven and I'm very proud of all that has been accomplished [clears throat] and it is a joy not only to what it brings to our students but the community at a large. And lastly, we'll be hosting our second annual special education community resource fair. Please see the flyer at your spaces. Uh it will be held on April 29th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at North Haven High School. It will feature college disability services providers, community businesses, support organizations. Currently, we have Yukon, their Beyond Access program, which uh will be joining
044us, Western Connecticut State, Curry College, and [clears throat] Sacred Heart in attendance. We continue to welcome any additional vendors and schools that would like to be part of this opportunity. Please don't miss this great opportunity and thank you to Laura Laura Danto for creating this event and that is all I have this evening. >> Does anybody have any questions for Anthony? >> Anthony question. >> Sure. >> Um what about Southern Panipak and the community college? >> So we've reached out to all of them. We're going to follow up again. We haven't heard back. So we're that we're working on just doing our follow-ups. >> Okay. Because I think community colleges are is important. >> Oh, absolutely. And we want them there and we just hope that we can get them there and be present especially
045Gateway and Middle Sex just as they're our local closest community colleges. So >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> It's not a question, it's more of a comment. Sorry. Sure. But I just want to say thank you for organizing things like this. I've gotten really positive feedback from parents on the community resource fair and the unified sports program. Um it really does help to make sure that like all of our kiddos are feeling like they belong and included and I just want to say thank you out loud. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So pick the team effort. Thank you all. >> Thank you. Chief operating officers report. >> Good evening everyone. Um, as you saw from your packet that you received on Friday, um, you have the financial report for the month of February,
046which is the current fiscal year. As shared during last month's board of education meeting, the district has been placed in a budgetary freeze for its operating expenditures to help address budgetary impacts of high medical and dental insurance claims. With that being said, additionally, last month the board was specific in its directions to shift $291,232.96, which is the entire balance of our non-lapsing account into the medical and dental reserve account. That transfer has happened. Um, that is why you see in your packet the report for fund 50, which is our non-lapsing account, the 290 uh the 291 has been shifted over there. You also can note that on our medical and dental reserve analysis report that you received. You'll see that in the employer contribution for the month of February. You'll see that 291 233 going.
047I just want to be very clear that that's where um also in terms of the budgetary transfer report that you receive each month, the one that I do want to be very clear on, there's two of them. There's one that is there for a little over 150,000. It's really just an efficiency transfer. The medical and dental insurance lines were always separate in our operating, but we always look at them as one expense because when we shift that into the reserve account, it's all coming out of that same pot. So, it's a transfer for efficiency sake. It's just combining those two account lines into a s a single operating account line. Um, as mentioned in your report, you do have your reserve analysis accounts. Currently, uh, in our medical and dental reserve account, there's $2.2 2
048million in just a little over that in cash reserve funds. Uh we've been watching March become a very heavy month in terms of uh claims coming in. So you will see that in next month's report. Our workers compensation reserve account currently sits at just over 160,000 in our cash reserve there. In terms of grants, grants do continue to be utilized to supplement the operating budget wherever possible. I would like to point out at the end of the month of February, the district did receive our first installment of our excess cost grant uh for 639,696, which represents 75% of what the board will receive this year for excess cost grant. Reminder that this money is specifically used to address um special education, tuition, and transportation costs that exceed that excess uh threshold. The other 25% of
049that, which is $213,232, is anticipated to be received at the end of May. Everyone's favorite topic, HVAC. Um, in your reports this month, as uh required by Connecticut General Statute 10-220, school districts are required to conduct and submit indoor air quality or IAQ assessments annually. you received these roughly this time last year in your board packet. Um these reports were attached to this month's board of education report and additionally they will also be posted on the district website and submitted to the department of administrative services excuse me uh as also known as DAS. So they are in your packet. Also within your packet is the monthly transportation report provided by DACO. I do want to uh speak to the bus patrol program. At the time of this report, we were still waiting on the town
050for them to appoint a hearing officer. As you know, bus patrol is a basically an AI camera system that is a safety enhancement for us in which any automobile that illegally passes any of our stop arms will be picked up on that video. That footage is then sent to the North Haven Police Department and they determine whether a formal citation can actually be sent out with a hearing officer. We can now formally let our community know uh when that grace period will end and those actual citations will begin. I don't have those dates for you because we will be meeting with North Haven Police Department within the next week to set up when the [snorts] basically the the grace period will end and folks will start receiving those actual citations. Finally, um, in cafeteria and
051food services, the one big piece I do want to speak to, and it's just a discussion point for this evening's, uh, board of education meeting to be voted on next month as a proposal to increase lunch prices for the 2627 school year. It has been quite some time since we've actually increased lunch prices. And with that being said, I really just want to paint perspective here that um in terms of paid lunch equity um and our requirements lead education agencies, that's us, uh must annually review paid lunch prices by completing our USDA paid lunch equity tool. When the average paid lunch price is less than the target paid meal price, the LEA must take action by increasing the prices charged for me prices or um providing non-federal funding sources to the nonpor profit food service.
052We have not raised in well over six years. And to give you perspective, this year's USDA target price for the weighted average lunch price is $41. North Haven's weighted average lunch price is $3.20. 20 cents. What I don't want us to get into is a situation where all of a sudden we have to make that jump in one single year. I think that that's not fair to our families and our parents. And so what uh I am proposing is uh a relative increase that current elementary lunch prices are $2.75. We've increased them by a quarter next year uh to $3. And at the middle school and high school, switching to a two-tiered. Right now, we have a three- tiered lunch pricing system at the middle school and high school of $3,315, excuse me, and 365.
053We would switch to a two-tiered system of 350 and $4 depending on the lunch that they purchase. This would actually change our weighted average to $3.40 for next year. The projected weighted average by the USA for um everyone would be 415. So, we'd still be below that weighted average, but it wouldn't be making the jump in a single year. There's no action to be taken by the board this evening on that. Um, but we would be looking for the board's formal approval in either the May or uh, excuse me, the April or May meeting so that we could get that information out to our parents in an acceptable timeline [snorts] in preparation for the upcoming school year. >> Right. I would like to have that vote next month uh, as early as possible. Think that
054information out there. I've also asked Christian to figure out what the revenue surge is from a dime to a quarter. How much it actually is to see if we need to go up that full quarter or can it go back or just what that what that quarter actually is outside of the quarter. It's the total that it revenue that it brings in. So, we're just curious about that. So, if you have that for us next month. Yeah. Question. >> Yeah. I just have a question about it. my understanding of it because there's this average that you're going off of, right? And am I understanding it that if we are a certain amount below the average then someone's going to tell us that we need to increase by a certain amount basically. So it could be
055a drastic like jump at some point. >> It could be the the reason we're benefiting it from right now is our that out of all our accounts our cafeteria fund account is actually doing well. We have our what you want to build in there a reserve of three months operating cost. You should always have at least that there in case some unforeseen incident happens. And then anything over that the district is obligated to build a spend down plan. And we've been over that, not by a ton, but it's also helped us to purchase replacement equipment >> in our kitchens. That's the tricky part with that particular account is if you're over you can't you have to spend that over in the kitchen itself. You can't really spread those funds anywhere else. So that has effectively
056assisted us though in not having to do capital improvements out of our operating budget. We've been able to replace our walk-in freezers, ovens, make other necessary emergency repairs in our kitchen from that account. Once we start dropping below that though, that's where they're going to look and say, "You've got to raise those prices significantly." >> So, this is ultimately an effort to try to avoid like a giant increase at some point because someone says, "Look, your lunch prices are too low. We need to increase it because this is what the averages are." >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> I think we've got a question in the chat. >> Why can't we have people just answered. Okay. >> Uh, >> okay. Just answered, right? >> Thanks, Joe. >> Does anybody else have any questions for Christian on
057that? >> I just have a couple. >> Sure. >> So, um, I just want to clarify that like it sounds like our medical and dental reserves are very healthy right now. But I want to just clarify with folks that having over $2 million in there now does not constitute a surplus. And we are tracking for that to be drawn down to about $27,000 at the end of the year, which is very low. So if folks are not familiar with how medical and dental reserves function, it's really easy to assume like, oh, there's millions of dollars in this account. It comes out every month to uh pay [snorts] for medical bills. And just one other quick thing is that the $150,000 in transfers, just to be clear, it's a non-material shift. There's it's not adding anything
058new. It is shifting line items. Yep. And the 639,000 that we're getting from our excess cost grant, again, just for clarity, that is anticipated. That's already baked into the budget. It is not $630,000 in additional funds that we are getting in the middle of a fiscal year right now. That money has already been accounted for in our annual budget. Um, and one final thing is just more of a PSA for the folks out there. Washington Avenue. When you are uh when you are facing a bus with their lights on on Washington Avenue, you have to stop. So, as the bus patrol grace period ends, it's important to know that like I think there's some confusion about Washington Avenue, whether or not you have to stop. If folks are on the other side of a two-lane
059highway, you do. Um so, just making sure that folks know and everybody's set up for success in this new bus patrol world. And one I'm sorry, one other thing I wanted to mention about that system, that system does not run through the school. So if there's an issue where you get a ticket or a summon or a letter, however they're going to do it, you don't don't call the superintendent. As much as I always say call the superintendent, don't call the superintendent on that because that is not our gig at [clears throat] all. That is completely separate from the school system. So, I just want to make sure that was out there. >> No, I appreciate that, Ron. And one of the things with our communication on our transportation is we're going to start putting
060out some visuals that [clears throat] have been provided by bus patrol to remind people of what is or what would be considered a a passing arm violation. >> Is that going out in a letter to the parents too? That that is coming. So, okay. Awesome. Anybody else have any questions? >> May I have a motion to approve the monthly financial report including the recommended [clears throat] transfers? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I >> opposed. So moved. At this point, I'd like to give public comments. Uh this session is reserved for agenda related items. If anybody would like to speak about a agenda related item, please step up. >> Good evening everyone. I get you. I'll get you next. Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. My name is
061Kashad from Maple Avenue North Haven. Um I guess I'm the only one here uh representing the Muslim community. Um that's because it's the month of Ramadan and and everyone is actually breaking their fast right now. Um, I just had my water, so I'm good. But I just want to say a few things and thank you for the um for the consideration of adding um the the Adel fitter into the uh the school calendar starting next year. Um well, I want to say >> be voted on next. I'm sorry. >> So, we're short. Yes, it needs to be voted on next month >> to make it. >> Thank you for proposing it um to be added to the uh the school calendar. So I know we've we've been discussing this over uh several months. It's actually
062it's been uh almost 9 10 months. Um there has been great discussions about this. Um I really enjoyed being here with everyone and I will continue to do so. I've learned a lot you know from this experience as a as being part of this community. Not only being as a Muslim but also being as part of this community. It just made me feel stronger because I felt that I belong to this community and I can do a lot of good things um you know for North Haven as as you guys are doing uh beautiful things. So I wanted to say thank you for um this beautiful discussion that we've been having for several months and um I just feel personally from my personal exper experience growing up as a Muslim um youth in this country
063uh as an immigrant um going through the school many different school systems. I just feel for these kids especially I have three kids um is not here uh in the North Haven school system I just feel what they're going through we uh there's over 120 Muslim students in uh the North Haven uh school public school systems I'm not sure if everyone received the was able to look at the letter that the students uh shared like with the with their u with their names and their feelings about why it's important for them to have the adal footer to be added [clears throat] to the uh the school calendar. So just to summarize quickly um it's I mean this is their faith and you know they they they feel that they should be accepted you know in
064this community um because they want to feel that they want to be able to practice you know what they believe in and when it's time for religion I mean when it's time for a for a holiday just like you know Christmas or you know Thanksgiving or you know Hanukkah or any other you know uh faith religion uh uh holiday they should they want to spend a good quality time with their families you know without worrying about the school without worrying about you know missing the quizzes and tests so I just want to say um also from the other side uh of um the community I also feel that it's going to help our community to be stronger to stay stronger because this is going to open up doors to understand you know that there are
065different faiths different cultures in this you community in this uh beautiful community and I think it's going to help our uh town to actually even become more stronger um by accepting you know different fates and you know I just feel like it's going going to be uh going to bring up a lot of good things for the for the community. >> Thank you. That's what I want to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. I take this one. It's kind of something Amanda said something about the school bus um stopping on Washington Avenue. People don't know the double link double yellow lines that you have to stop both ways. That's something that really should be put in the advisor. It is I got my license when I was 16. I know the rules, but they don't
066refresh [snorts] it. And they really can. You could put something in the advisor to remind them just like the school zone areas that they're trying to set up now in North A. You know, I don't understand the uh no fine time. What do you call what you're calling that thing? The grace period. I'm sorry. You break the wall. You break the law. That's the way I look at it. But that's just me. Okay. 30 days is a long time and 60 days is even worse. But, you know, sometimes little reminders are very helpful >> because I used to travel Washington Avenue. I knew when the school buses were coming, I'd be like, "Are you kidding me?" Because people fly. Yeah. >> You know, I you know, and as far as what Tom had said regarding
067the holiday being put in there, same thing. The advisor is really pretty much our only town paper. Everybody doesn't get the citizen. Facebook has your North Haven pages. I can't figure out which one's which. You know, there's too many of them. Same thing. You could put a little blurb in there. It doesn't hurt. That's way unfortunately people find out about stuff. You know, it's not like for or against it, but this is a holiday that's going to come up. It will not be always March 9th. It will be a different day. But for somebody who had to have a babysitter for holidays and snow days, thank God I had the best one I could have had. But um you do have to make arrangements you know and I do know like people don't go to
068the senior center for a school day called off. So people have to be aware of that you know and that's why I'm telling you is that it does help if everybody knows you know whichever way you can communicate. So, oh, I can say no. I'm still vide >> babysitter. >> Am I allowed? >> Yeah. >> Mrs. Elizabeth Bath. >> If I said Mrs. Ronald Bath, you wouldn't know which one it was. There's three of them. >> Yeah, that's very [laughter] true. Very true. Thank you, sir. >> Appreciate it. >> No, I appreciate it. [laughter] >> Any other uh anybody else like to make a comment? >> I just want to say just one quick thing. Um again, my name is Kasha. So, I just wanted to also um forget about mentioning there's actually a community
069uh ear dinner for the month of Ramadan this Saturday uh March 14th. It's organized by the diversity and MSA club of uh the high school uh North Haven High School. So, it'll be actually happening there. Um, I think there's going to be like flyers, uh, you know, just spreading out around. >> It's like 6:00 to 8 at night, right? >> Yeah, I think 6:30 until 8:00. >> Starts at 6:30, goes until 8:00. Um, so everyone is welcome. The whole community, you know, teachers, staff, everyone, >> high school page, too. >> Well, it's on the It's on our district >> uh Facebook page also. >> Oh, it is. Yes, we >> Okay, great. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Seeing [snorts] no one, may I have a motion to adjourn the March 12th, 2026 regular meeting of
070the board of education? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Thank you everybody for showing up. The preceding program is brought to you in part through a grant from the town of North Haven. Watch town meetings or other videos on demand at nhtv.com.